


Not One Drop

by LoveLetter



Category: General Hospital
Genre: F/M, Implied Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-23
Updated: 2013-02-23
Packaged: 2017-12-03 07:59:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/696041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoveLetter/pseuds/LoveLetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This whole possessive, protective big brother thing, it was really cute in the beginning. But now it’s just creepy. Starr, this doesn’t freak you out?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not One Drop

**Author's Note:**

> Implied incestuous feelings. Follow up piece to Trey and Kristina's wedding.

“This whole possessive, protective big brother thing, it was really cute in the beginning. But now it’s just creepy. Starr, this doesn’t freak you out?” 

Trey’s words seemed to echo in the large room, even beneath the screaming and arguing. Starr rushed to cover his accusation with her own and Michael stepped forward in a furry of fists. But those words clung to a small corner of everyone’s mind. It was the same corner reserved for ugly truths and unasked questions. 

Starr would be lying if she didn’t admit to wondering about Michael and Kristina’s relationship on more than one occasion. The significant glances, the steady touches, it all added up to something that Starr couldn’t quite understand. But she had a complicated family herself, a family that others would never truly understand. So she looked on in silent wonder and tucked those questions away, letting Michael’s smile calm her and his gentle words sooth her. 

Michael would be lying if he didn’t admit to the way that no one could make him simultaneously more reckless and more cautious that Kristina. Sometimes he saw red when he was angry for her or at her. The idea of someone hurting her made his fingers itch to wrap around a throat, to squeeze until everyone understood that she was not to be touched. But Kristina had a nasty habit of hurting herself, of dragging the people closest to her along for the ride, and that made Michael cautious. One prolonged glance too many and Kristina would have them both barreling down a path that would end in nothing but heartache. Somewhere deep inside he knew that he wouldn’t stop her, he would follow her down that treacherous path, hand in hand. She was a hurricane and his blood ached for her brand of chaos. He wanted her with him and he wanted her far, far away. She could make his blood rush through his veins so painfully. Blood that he had to remind himself to forget he didn’t share with Kristina, not one drop. 

Kristina did lie. She lied to herself every morning when she looked in the mirror and declared, with a confident nod, that everything was okay. Her bruises had healed and the blood had been whipped away, and she would be okay. She lied when she calmed the frantic beating of her heart and forced her gut to stop churning, forced herself to believe that Trey wouldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t hurt her like Kiefer or her father. He wouldn’t even her hurt the way that Michael sometimes did, with his blonde girlfriends and his dismissive words. Trey would never hurt her, not like that.

Her lies wound themselves around her limbs and choked her until she couldn’t see straight. But she continued to lie. She lied about the way her pulse quickened when Michael wrapped his fingers around her wrist. She lied about the way the fire in his eyes caught her breath and raised goose bumps along her skin. She lied and lied, and lied. She lied until she forgot about the times when she wished that Michael wasn’t her brother, wished that he was just a boy. She lied about what she wanted and what she didn’t. She lied until she couldn’t figure out the difference between the two, or if there was ever any difference at all.

“I need to call my brother,” Kristina whispered, pulling away from Trey and averting her eyes. Her lips were still wet and pink from the kiss she had shared with Trey only moments before. His eyes zoned in on her mouth and he shook his head in wonder.

“What?” he snapped tiredly. 

“I know that he shouldn’t have attacked you like that but, he thought that he was protecting me. He just, he gets like that sometimes. It’s hard to explain,” she shrugged, reaching for her phone.

“Kris, this is our wedding day and your brother has already interfered enough. Let your twisted sense of family loyalty take a back seat for a little while,” he raised an eyebrow expectantly. 

“It’s not twisted,” she defended weakly, dialing Michael’s familiar number. She found comfort in the keys beneath her fingertips, having pressed them so many times before, knowing that they would lead to the comforting sound of Michael’s voice.

“Are you seriously calling him right now?” Trey muttered, raising a hand to his head in exasperation. 

“He’s my brother,” she snapped. “I just chose you over him and I need to make sure he knows…” she trailed off hesitantly. 

“Knows what?” he challenged.

“I need to make sure that he knows that we’re still us,” she murmured softly. 

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

“Michael, you should answer that!” Starr urged, glancing at him worriedly. Michael’s jaw was set stubbornly and he refused to even glance at his ringing phone. “At least check and see who it is,” she reasoned.

“It’s her,” he muttered surely. 

“Don’t you want to talk to her?” Starr offered.

“Obviously not,” he bit out. Starr bristled at his tone, unused to the rigged edges that seemed to cover Michael from head to toe. This was not the same man who had pulled her from despair all those months ago.

“I’m not the enemy Michael,” she murmured. He closed his eyes briefly at that, looking ashamed and apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” he nodded. “I don’t mean to take this out on you. It’s just… Kristina makes me crazy. She always has,” he sighed.

“I understand. Siblings can be hard to deal with,” she agreed knowingly. 

Michael wanted to tell her that she didn’t understand. He wanted to tell her that Kristina wasn’t hard the way that other siblings were hard. She was hard in the way that only Kristina could be. 

“Yeah…” he swallowed. He knew that there was no way to explain his relationship with Kristina. He couldn’t make sense of it himself and there was no way he could make sense of it to someone else.

“You should talk to her. It’s your decision but I don’t think you’re going to feel better until you do,” she said, her words careful and soft. 

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. 

“Well, at least turn your ringer off until you decide because I think I’m getting a migraine,” Starr giggled infectiously. Michael smiled along with her and took a long moment to let her warmth sink into him. She was good for him, healthy. 

Being around Starr breathed a new life and energy into him. Part of him wanted to get closer and closer to her until he could burry himself inside of her bones and melt in her warmth. But to do that would mean to leave everyone and everything behind. To do that would mean to leave Kristina behind. He couldn’t do that. Even if she was leaving him behind, he could never leave her. 

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

“Michael?” Starr urged. 

Sighing in relent, Michael answered his phone and pressed it to his ear. He was silent for a long moment, just listening to Kristina’s breath on the other line. 

“Kristina…” he finally spoke. 

“Michael! Michael thank God you answered. Please don’t hate me. Please,” she begged, the tears in her voice choking Michael even from miles away. 

“I don’t hate you Krissy,” he sniffed. 

“Don’t be disappointed either. That’s almost worse,” she mumbled. 

“I just, I don’t understand… “ he explained. 

“I know you don’t. You hardly ever understand me. You know me better than anyone but you don’t understand me. I’m not really sure how that works,” she laughed lightly. 

“Yeah, me either. I guess some things are just beyond reason,” he agreed. 

“I guess so,” she whispered. 

“Hey, listen… I don’t want you to like disappear, okay? I don’t agree with what you’re doing, what you did, but I’m still here. Just, I’m still here. Okay?” he cleared his throat uncomfortably, suddenly wishing that Starr wasn’t inches away from him. The moment seemed charged and intense, private. 

“I know. Thank you,” she smiled and Michael could hear the relief in her voice. 

“Um, I guess I should let you go. Call me when you’re back in town and we can get lunch or something. We’ll figure everything out,” he assured her. He would fix this for her, it was his job. 

“That sounds great. Maybe we can even double. Me and Trey, you and Starr…” she offered a forced laugh and Michael grimaced. 

“Don’t push your luck Krissy,” he warned. 

“Right, sorry. I just, I want things between us to be okay,” her voice was small and timid. 

“We’re okay Krissy,” he promised. The truth was, they weren’t okay and they probably would never be okay. But they still had each other and that was pretty much the closest thing to okay they had ever had. “We’re okay…” he repeated. 

They weren't okay, but for here he would pretend.


End file.
